In March 2013, researchers from UH Mānoa and UH Hilo began drilling at 6400 feet above sea level in the saddle region between the mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. HIGP faculty member Donald Thomas is leading the effort. What they discovered seven months later may radically change conventional wisdom regarding the state’s most valuable resource: fresh water. Click on the image or title to watch the UH video report.

Click on the preview image or the title to view the video in a pop-up window (you may need to turn off pop-up blockers). Please visit our video page to see more SOEST videos.

SOEST in the News

Updates

HIMB scientists study threatened shark species

Fishing, climate change and pollution threaten many shark species. Now, scientists are getting a close look at the shark environment. They want to better understand the threats this important animal faces. The researchers recently attached a camera to a sandbar shark to record its everyday activities. “And when we recovered the camera, we saw that the shark had spent the day in a large aggregation of sharks, not just sandbar sharks but also blacktip sharks and many, many scalloped hammerhead sharks.” said Carl Meyer, HIMB assistant researcher. He also said sharks are important top-level hunters. They help keep a balance in ocean ecosystems. Pollution, climate change and fishing threaten those systems.

Read more about and watch the video at Voice of America “Learning English.” Image courtesy of HIMB; click on it to see the full version.

Opihi teeth strongest natural material on Earth

A new study by British scientists claims that the strongest natural material on Earth is the tiny teeth of opihi. The University of Portsmouth study found that the amount of weight opihi teeth can withstand is comparable to a strand of spaghetti holding up a hippopotamus, about five times the strength of most spider silks. Chris Bird, researcher at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). “When you eat a lot of opihi, you have a lot of the radula [ribbon-like structures containing the animals’ teeth] that are going to be tearing at the linings of your stomach and intestine as your body processes the opihi.” However, Bird assures that people would have to eat a lot of it for it to become a health problem.

Read more about and watch the video at Hawaii News Now. Image courtesy of University of Portsmouth; click on it to see the full version.

NASA’s latest robot is exploring Earth’s volcanoes

For many geologists, the real intrigue about volcanoes lies just below the surface. It’s why researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are developing small machines, called VolcanoBots, to climb the walls deep inside volcanic vents. Carolyn Parcheta, the lead geologist on the project and former G&G PhD student, said that VolcanoBots have been in production for a year. “In order to eventually understand how to predict eruptions and conduct hazard assessments, we need to understand how the magma is coming out of the ground”, she said. Bruce Houghton, G&G professor and Hawai‘i state volcanologist, noted, “We have a good picture of what happens once we see an eruption start at the surface, but all our problems are subsurface.”

Read more about in the Huffington Post and at JPL News, and see the related story in Ka Leo. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech; click on it to see the full version.

Announcements

We are very sad to report the death of B. Ray Hawke on the evening of 24 January 2015. A tireless advocate for lunar activity, researcher, teacher, mentor, colleague, friend, Dr. Hawke will be truly missed. We offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends. A memorial gathering will be held in the Pacific Regional Planetary Data Center (POST 544) on 15 Feb at 3 pm.

Please see the PRPDC page and the UH System News item for more information. A remembrance written by Paul Spudis (Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston) recounts many scientific endeavors.

Bin Wang awarded 2015 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal

Bin Wang, researcher at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) and professor in Atmospheric Sciences, was awarded the 2015 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) “for creative insights leading to important advances in the understanding of tropical and monsoonal processes and their predictability.”

This is the most prestigious medal awarded by the AMS. Read more about it in the UH Mānoa News. Congratulations, Bin!